The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1887-12-02
James Barber Shoots Himself and Wife
and Uses a Razor to Complete
the Bloody Work.
Testimony taken at the Coronor's
Inquest.

JdNleS DarDeT anu Ills WIG, dltnOuSn
Glow is more or less implicated IN the
matter. Our information yesterday was
received from responsible parties and
was supposed to be we'll authenticated.
From the account sent us by Mr.. Pad
dock and from information received
from Mr.. c. NJ. Green, of Amboy, who
was in the city last evening, the fol-
lowing facts in regard to the blacklist
page in the criminal annals of Blue
Earth county have been ascertaned.
Mack Glow has for a number of years
been separated from his wife, though
not divorced from her, and has lived in
various parts of the county for num-
Der of years, barring short sojourns ut
other places. He is especially well
known at Eagle Lake. He has lately
been peddling meat at Amboy and is
noted as being very poor and thriftless
and has long borne hard reputation
and been known as man whose small
intelligence has always been devoted to
evil. He had recently moved without
permission into log shanty on the farm
of Mrs. REYNOLDS, in the town of Shelby,
about three miles from Amboy and an
equal distance from Vernon Center. The
other occupants of the house were two
women, Mrs. Barber and Mrs. Minnie
Jones, and unpleasant stories have
been in circulation connecting the names
of the three as partners in infamy. The
neIghbors had for some time been con-
sidering the ACCESSIBILITY of cleaning this
nest of iniquIty out and only wanted
leader to do so.
One of the women with whom Glow
boarded" rs he said, was the wife of
James Barber, recently from Iowa, and
the other CLOVIS niece. Barber
appeared tl,v last
week and tried to induce his
wife to return with him to Iowa but
failed, as she persisted in putting him
off. He stayed ut the house with the
others, and Glow left on Friday and has
not since been heard of. The matter
eliminated Monday morning, however,
when Barber finally asked his wife
whether she would live with him or not.
She replied that she did not know. Bar
Der then shot her twice i'm the head, one
ball taking effect in the back part of the
skull and the other just forward of the
left ear. He Immediately placed the
yet smoking revolver to his own head
and fired, the b. y entering above the
right ear, -bat~iu woulu seem without
fatal result. To make his work sure he
seized a razor and cut his wife's throat
in Il horrible manner. Then applying
the blade TO his own throat he layed II
open from ear to ear, severing the prin-
cipal veins and arteries. fle otherwise
mutilated himself Barber died inn
mediately, but his wife fingered in an
unconscious state until yesterday morn
ing when she, too, died. This account
of the tragedy is made up from the
statements gathered by Mr.. Paddock
from those who were upon the ground
Immediately after the affair occurred.
The people living in the vicinity seem
to have an idea that Glow and his niece
know more about the affair than they
would care to tell. The neighborhood
is in no way sorry that this household
has been cleaned out.
Certain it is that no more brutal crime
was ever perpetrated upon the soil of
this county than the murder and suicide
which occurred in that little log house
in Shelby.
THE INQUEST.
Cornor Paddock held an inquest Tues
dav afternoon, the following jurors be-
ing sworn: +. ii. Barnes, W. r. Day, d.
w. Davis, q. +. Francis, J. b. WILDER,
n. b. Reeder.
The first witness was Mrs. Minnie
Jones who said she was living with Mr..
and Mrs. Barber; about 10 or ii O'Clock
YESTERDAY Barber said to his wife, "Do
you intend to live with me?" She said
no. He said, "Do you intend to kill
me? She said no. | next heard pistol
shot; stood close to Mrs. Barber, who
was sitting in chair; had my back to
her; smoke of pistol went over my
head. Mrs. Barber fell. / ran out of
the door and when out heard another
pistol shot, thought he pointed the pis-
toll at me but am not sure. There was
no one in the room but Mr.. and Mrs.
Barber, myself and Mrs. BARRIERS baby,
about 10 months old. i heard three dis
tinct shots after | left the house. Went
and told the Hillikers that the man had
shot his wife; they went 10 the house !;
/ have not been at the house since until
now; went to live with Mr.. and Mrs.
Barber about six weeks ago; went there
because had no other home; Barber
worked at odd jobs; Mr.. Malcolm Glow
and his son lived with them when they
lived with Mrs. Croker, II miles from
Amboy; there were three rooms and a
buttery; we left there a week ago yes
terday. Mr.. Barber took his things and
went to Mr.. Bunnses; he knew that Mr..
Glow, his son, Mrs. Barber and myself
were coming over here. Uncle Mac
went To Amboy Tuesday and Mr.. Bar
Der came back with him. We all lived
in the log house of Mrs. Reynolds until
Thursday when my cousin went away f;
Uncle Mac went away Friday or Saur-
day; the house we occupied had but one
room. They had trouble; Barber wanted
her to live with him and she did not want
to-; she did not like him; they had trou-
BILE about five weeks ago because she did
not want to live with him. He told me
Friday he had notion to take poison.
There was pistol in the house; did not
know which one had it. Witness iden-
tilted pistol shown as the one In the
house. A small bottle ofstrychnine was
found in the house; Mrs. Barber told
me she found it IN Barber's coat pocket.
Mr.. Glow said he would be back Monday
or Tuesday. The BARRIERS came from
Abbott, Iowa, last July or August; Mrs
Barber came about two weeks before
her husband. She kept house for my
uncle. He had lived with them before.
Recalled the witness said she thinks
Barber was insane from his talk; thought
he was insane when he talked of taking
poison. When Barber missed his bot
tie he asked his wife about it, and she
denied having seen it. Glow and Bar
Der got along all right so far as / know.
Mr.. Barber and Glow came from Iowa
together in team.
John A. Hilliker was the next witness.
Said Mrs. Minnie Jones came and told
him Barber had shot his wife. My son
and went to the house and found Bar
Der and his wife on the floor with both
their Threats cut. III. X. Case happened
along and came into the house; Barber
died before ] left, but his wife was still
breathing; was there about half an hour.
ID. w. Davis and others came in. Mrs.
Barber was breathing very heavily; we
raised her head and placed pillow un-
der IL. A small seven chamber pistol
lay partly under his left leg, and razor
Law about six feet from his head and a
little to the left; the pistol was i'm pool
of blood and the razor was covered with
blood. Saw no one in or about the
house but Barber, his wife and little
child; would think 1t over one and a
half years old.
The other witnesses examined were